R. Sreya of Alappuzha wins the gold in Junior girls’ 100m at the Kerala School Sports & Games 2024 on November 8.
| Photo Credit: THULASI KAKKAT
She has dancing eyes and flying feet. R. Sreya, inspired by her elder sister, a Bharatanatyam dancer, took up Kathakali and now she is the fastest girl in Kerala.
“Just last week, she performed a Kathakali dance in the role of Krishna at the Kalarcode Mahadeva Temple in Alappuzha… and now she has set her personal best in the 100m,” said her father, K. Shyamlal, after Sreya won the junior girls’ 100m with a time faster than the senior champion E.P. Rahna Raghu’s performance.
“She trains for two hours every morning in athletics and in the evening for dance. Her Kathakali guru is Kalamandalam Ganesan. During the festival season, she performs Kathakali at four or five temples.”
Sreya has to overcome many hurdles in her promising career on track.
“We don’t have a synthetic track in Alappuzha, so her coach Joseph Antony takes her to the Municipal Stadium at Pala once or twice a month for training. Otherwise, she typically trains on a mud track at Alappuzha’s Leo XIII School, which is close to the St. Joseph’s HSS School where she studies,” said her father.
Sreya was a good runner as a child, and her parents enrolled her in the Leo XIII Athletics Academy when she was in the third standard.
“This is her first gold in the State games. Last year, she fell just before the start while running a trial and hurt both her knees. Her favourite event is the 400m, and she won a silver in it on Wednesday,” said her father, who is a school teacher.
Published – November 09, 2024 01:13 am IST